"Ichariba Chodei", (When We Meet, We Become Family, "Ichariba Choodee", イチャリバチョーデー) is the premiere episode of the Japanese anime Stitch!. It first aired in Japan on October 8, 2008, and in English on December 4, 2009.
Plot[]
The episode starts out with Stitch on his red scooter, and the Galactic Federation chasing after him. Stitch is able to ditch them by outmaneuvering them by making them crash into large sculptures on one of the planets in the Turo System. Jumba then flies next to him and tells him to stop, bringing up the fact that because Lilo is now with a boyfriend is no reason for Stitch to misbehave, but this only pushes Stitch further as he flies faster, upsetting Jumba, since the scooter is his and he doesn't want to get in trouble again.
On an asteroid, Gantu is with Reuben, eating a sandwich. He complains that it isn't egg salad, but Antarian Scorpion. Reuben explains that he used the scorpion (now dead) as a substitute for egg salad, since Gantu got fired again. Gantu protests, saying that he was dishonorably discharged, but Reuben points out that he was fired for singing karaoke at the holiday party.
Hämsterviel, Gantu's new boss, enters, and after a mishap of Gantu knocking sandwiches onto him, threatens to fire him, but spares him. He assigns Gantu to capture Stitch, who crashes through. Gantu chases Stitch, reminiscing about the good times when this happened. Stitch makes the lasers he shoots at him return, much to Hämsterviel's annoyance. When asked about why he hired Gantu again, Hämsterviel says that he works cheap.
After a while, Jumba finally catches Stitch, but both are sucked into a black hole and are on different polarities. Jumba crashes somewhere near Saturn while Stitch starts to fall to Earth.
On Earth, on the Japanese Izayoi Island, a young girl named Yuna Kamihara wishes to the Chitama Spiritual Stone to wish her father good luck on his adventures before running off. After she leaves, Stitch crashes in the distance.
Yuna meets up with her Grandmother, who asks Yuna if she was thinking about her dad. Yuna denies it and says that she wished from the Chitama Spiritual Stone to become the greatest karate master in the world before heading off to class. Yuna's grandmother delights about Yuna before going back to working on the laundry.
At the beach, Stitch survives the crash and wonders where he is. More importantly, he is feeling hungry. He runs up to an octopus and a crab, trying to eat them both, but they attack him before Stitch tries to get some coconuts from a tree, but fails. Angrily, Stitch yells on the beach, but is washed by some sea water. Exhausted, he crawls up onto land with a crab on his tail, wanting some food.
At the Chitama Dojo, Yuna goes over the rules of the dojo with Tonbo, Officer Suzuki, and JJ:
- Defend the Weak
- Love everybody (even the stinkyheads)
- "Ichariba Chodei", meet one's cousins forever.
They soon get started after chanting the oath, but Taro, another student, comes in out of uniform. Yuna tells him to get dressed, but he shyly shakes his head. Officer Suzuki encourages him to ask, but Taro still doesn't answer. After Yuna demands to know, Taro says that he nearly cleared Level 3 of "Go Go Galaxy" (A parody of Spectrobes 2), until Kenny took his console. Yuna growls angrily as she mutters Kenny's name.
At the docks, Penny, and her lackeys, Ted and Marvin, are watching Kenny clear the Third Level of Go Go Galaxy. Kenny remarks that Taro shouldn't be allowed to play it since he can't get past Level 3. Yuna and Taro then come in, Yuna demanding the game back. Without hesitation, Kenny throws the game to Yuna, but she wants him to apologize to Taro. Taro nervously threatens that Yuna is a Karate Master, but they blow her off, saying that Kenny's one too, even though he's a White Belt. Penny ridicules Yuna, wondering why she doesn't use it to beat up anyone. Yuna tells them that it is only used for protecting loves ones, in which Marvin and Ted tease that she loves Taro. Now annoyed, Yuna says that of combat is needed, then it shall be carried out. Kenny is about to attack Yuna until she performs one swift kick into the air, knocking his hat off, and giving them one last chance to apologize. Annoyed, Kenny and his gang walks off. Penny teases Yuna about her father leaving her behind because she was a tomboy. Yuna, seemingly angry, snaps a piece of bamboo in half and handing one of the halves to Penny, scaring her. However, it is just sugarcane, and Penny storms off angrily.
Officer Suzuki, now in his Police Uniform, rides by and tells Yuna and Taro that a blue monster is attacking the Pineapple Factory. Yuna drags a scared Taro to see what happened, and the Pineapple Factory is now a mess, which, according to Taro, looks like his room before his mom yells at him.
In town, Penny, Kenny, Ted and Marvin are eating ice cream. Kenny complains about Yuna always pushing him around, and Penny shows how she'd graphically beat Yuna up by stabbing her spoon into her banana split, but a blue blur takes it away, as well as everyone else's ice cream. Stitch then appears on top of the umbrella of the table they were using, joyously eating the deserts before it falls onto the four. He then approaches an ice cream box, where the Ice Cream Man is, before getting a brainfreeze and then throwing the box towards Penny and her gang. He tries to ask a woman for a watermelon, but since the woman doesn't know Stitch, she yells in surprise, as well as Stitch, leading to a watermelon landing on his head and rolling towards the fish store, where he knocks over crates of fish and knocking the fishmonger to the ground and rolling to the bakery, where he scares the owner.
Yuna and Taro arrive a while later, seeing the damage. Yuna guesses that the monster came through. Just as Officer Suzuki arrives, Yuna notices Penny and her gang hiding in fear. She asks them if they are OK, and if they saw the monster. Kenny stutters that he went towards the Chitama Forest, where Yuna deducts he is hiding.
In the Chitama Forest, Stitch is shaking trees to get papayas down. He eats a load of papayas before burping and falling asleep. Yuna runs by and notices Stitch. She picks up a stick and hides behind a tree to poke him to see if he is awake. Stitch, still asleep, grabs the stick and starts to eat it. Yuna is surprised by his strength and goes to get a closer look at his face. The presence of Yuna awakens Stitch, and both are surprised at each other that they are both thrown back. Yuna accuses Stitch of causing trouble in town, which he denies. Taking matters into her own hands, Yuna tries to arrest Stitch, but he plays around and they both land hits on each other. Stitch admits Yuna is good as he runs away, but Yuna gives chase. Stitch jumps onto a vine and spits at Yuna, but she dodges all of the spits and tackles Stitch, unintentionally causing the both of them to roll down a hill and into a river in a ravine. Yuna swims back up, but notices that Stitch didn't come up too, realizing that he was drowning.
Yuna swims back down to get Stitch, and they both get to shore. Yuna says that Stitch is heavy, in which Stitch says both in Tantalog and English that he hates water. The two then notice how deep down they are, and Stitch climbs up. Yuna tries to climb up too, but nearly falls. Stitch saves her and throws her to the top, where they are both exhausted. Yuna reprimands Stitch on causing all the trouble in town. Stitch says that he is not bad, which Yuna doubts, and reasons that he was hungry. Yuna tells him that he needs to do good deeds to get food instead of doing damage. It suddenly rains, and the two find shelter in a cave.
Yuna asks if Stitch is scared of storms, which he declines, and asks her back. Yuna declines as well, but is scared when lightning strikes. She gets so nervous that she clings onto Stitch, much to her embarrassment. Stitch finally calls himself by name, in which Yuna introduces herself. After another lightning strike, Stitch promises to protect Yuna.
In the morning, after the storm, Stitch and Yuna wake up. Upon seeing a rainbow, Yuna tells Stitch to rub his belly button for good luck, but teases him after for not having one. She then tells Stitch that he can be good, and the two walk together. Yuna asks where Stitch came from. He tries to tell her from space by pointing up to the sky, but she thinks that he's from the sky instead before mentioning Hawaii. The two then come across the Chitama Spiritual Stone, where Yuna tells Stitch of its legend and its power. Stitch, excited, tries to get the power from the Stone, but it throws Stitch off.
Grandma then comes over, telling Stitch how he discovered the Chitama Stone. Grandma explains that anyone can get their wishes granted if they do good deeds. Stitch then thinks of himself with Angel and in a Gladiator Suit, saying that he would be a good Ruler of the Universe. Grandma then tells Yuna to come home, in which Yuna asks if they can keep Stitch. Grandma happily replies yes and says "Ichariba Chodei". Yuna explains to Stitch that it means "Meet One's Cousins Forever". Stitch is happy by this too, and combines the term with "'ohana" as they race off home.
Meanwhile, on the Kuiper Belt near Saturn, Jumba starts to call for help. He then notices Pleakley, acting like an old traveler. He thinks that he's hallucinating when he sees Jumba, but Jumba says that he is real, and the two reunite. Pleakley says that he went on a mission given to him by the Galactic Council, but was stuck on an asteroid for two years, causing Jumba to think of a distortion from the black hole. Pleakley says that now Jumba is here, he can take them home, but upon hearing that his ship is broken like Pleakley's, he wails in agony into the distance.
Experiments[]
- Reuben (625)
- Angel (624) (vision only)
Trivia[]
- It is revealed Gantu got dishonorably discharged from his renewed job with the Galactic Council, forcing him to revert to working for Hämsterviel.
- After Jumba and Stitch fall into the black hole, a cow, a frog, and a pair of Mickey Mouse shorts fall into the black hole as well.
- Officer Suzuki seems to have been to Taro's house, since he nodded when Taro mentioned what a mess his room would sometimes be and how his mom yells at him for it.
- This is the only anime episode where Angel appears to have been broadcast in the United States; the show was pulled from U.S. broadcast just before her proper anime debut could be shown.
- Yuna's karate gi is white while Kenny's is black.
- Hämsterviel's "King" outfit would later reappear in "Stitch vs. Hämsterviel Pt. II".
- References to the original Lilo & Stitch series:
- Stitch is on the run from the police, like in his first debut.
- Gantu refers to chasing Stitch as just like old times.
- Stitch crashes on Earth similarly to how he did it in the first movie too, except his crash is actually seen.
- Stitch shaking a coconut tree is similar to the line: "Miki miki coconut!" from the song "Aloha, E komo Mai".
- Yuna's shirt has a similar design to Lilo's.
- Penny is the counterpart of Mertle Edmonds, as Kenny, Ted and Marvin are like Elena, Yuki, and Teresa.
- The Ice Cream Man appears as one of the only human characters from the Lilo & Stitch series to have a recurring appearance in the Stitch! series.
- The fruit store manager is the counterpart to Mrs. Hasagawa.
- Deleted scenes from the original Japanese dub:
- An extended scene of Stitch trying to find food at the beach.
- Yuna's foot being shown when kicking off Kenny's hat.
- Yuna and Taro running towards the Pineapple Factory.
- Yuna and Taro running to town, with an exhausted Officer Suzuki following on bike.
- Yuna struggling to hold onto Stitch when tackling him on the vine was extended.
- Stitch and Yuna running down the hill was extended, with either or trying to get ahead of each other.
- Yuna rock-climbing with Stitch in the lead before she falls on a loose rock.
- Yuna is seen visibly grabbing onto Stitch during the lightning flashes.